The dance troupe Muungana Drum and Dance performs at the four-day Comerica
CityFest's first day on Wednesday.

Ian McGunagle, 2, enjoys a slice of Happy's Pizza during CityFest, which features fare
of 40-plus restaurant vendors

Nigerian singer Femi Kuti performs on the Motor City Main Stage during CityFest
in the New Center area on Wednesday

CityFest crowds brave clouds to enjoy music, food
Delores Flynn and Mark Hicks

DETROIT -- Comerica CityFest 2007 kicked off to a cloudy Wednesday with a slim crowd, but officials expect numbers to climb throughout the five-day event.

The 19th annual summer festival in the New Center area of the city runs through Sunday. It features more than 40 restaurant vendors, a kids' area and four musical stages where some 70 local and national acts will perform, including Weird Al Yankovic, Bobby "Blue" Bland and rapper Lupe Fiasco.

"This is a great family-oriented event. It's nice to see people from all over coming together. It's great promotion for Detroit," said Alicia Hamilton, 22, of Detroit.

Karen O'Hare bought her food tickets early Wednesday afternoon and embarked on her first-ever stroll through CityFest, formerly known as Comerica TasteFest.

"I'm really looking forward to tasting the food. Where else can you sample so many restaurants all in one place?" said the 43-year-old Redford Township resident.

By 5 p.m., as weather cleared and temperatures rose into the 80s, some 20,000 had flocked to the event, said Julie Kouloumberis, marketing director for CityFest. About 500,000 people attended last year's event, she said. Officials are expecting some 600,000 this year, weather permitting.

"We hope the weather doesn't stop people from coming down. This is a wonderful fundraiser for the New Center Council. All the proceeds go back into the community for projects like graffiti removal, holiday lights and contributions to youth groups," Kouloumberis said. "So it's both a fun and worthy cause."

The council is a nonprofit business group dedicated to maintaining a vibrant, diverse and economically healthy northern anchor of the greater downtown Detroit.

"It's nice to see them pull out all the stops each year. I love looking around at all the historic buildings," said Gregory Banks, 43, of Detroit while letting jazz tunes wash over him. "And the music is fantastic. It doesn't get much better than this."

Patrons streamed through the grounds, passing vendors who hawked everything from sunglasses to lemonade, curry, chicken kabob, and Ethiopian cuisine. In one area near the Fisher Building, a giant machine-shaped orange inflatable balloon fronted the entrance to the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, which replicated the interior of some Ford Motor Co. plants.

Near the Motor City Casino Stage, revelers nodded their heads and swayed to the rhythm of acts such as Fema Kuti and the Positive Force.

"I love the variety," said Kevin Rossell, 36, a computer consultant from Grosse Pointe Park who attended with his wife, Linda, and their children, Eva, 6, and Reed, 4. "It's great."

Relaxing beneath trees with cardboard cartons of sauce-smothered barbecued ribs and corn on the cob, Pat McCullough and her son, Brian, 21, savored the atmosphere.

"It's perfect," said McCullough, a housing occupancy specialist from Detroit. "There's no other event like this."